Nanotechnology General News

The latest news from academia, regulators
research labs and other things of interest

Posted: October 11, 2007

Innovalight Raises $28 Million for Solar Product Development

(Nanowerk News) Innovalight, Inc., a privately-held firm developing silicon ink-based printed solar cells, today announced that the company has raised $28 million in new capital. With new financing in hand, the Company is relocating to a new 30,000 square foot manufacturing facility in Sunnyvale, California.
This series C financing was led by Norway-based investor, Convexa Capital and supported by Scatec AS. Existing investors Apax Partners, ARCH Venture Partners, Harris & Harris Group, Sevin Rosen Funds and Triton Ventures also participated in this financing.

“Innovalight is developing a very attractive approach to lower the costs of conventional solar energy,” said Bjørge Gretland, managing partner for Convexa Capital who joins the board of Innovalight. “The company’s silicon ink process to make cheaper solar cells offers huge potential to help accelerate growth in the overall solar market,” he added.

Compared to solar modules in the market today, Innovalight has developed a proprietary technology that utilizes liquid processing of silicon to produce high-efficiency solar cells that have the potential to reduce solar costs by more than 50 percent.

Innovalight recently elected Alf Bjørseth, Chairman of Scatec AS, to the company’s Board. Alf Bjørseth is founder, former president and chief executive officer of Renewable Energy Corporation (REC) -- one of the largest vertically integrated solar energy companies in the world.

“This new injection of capital into Innovalight will help transition the company from development to first production,” said Conrad Burke, president and chief executive officer. “We are delighted to add two new very distinguished investors to our already strong syndicate,” he added.

About Innovalight

Innovalight was founded in 2002 and is based in Santa Clara, California. The company is developing low-cost, high-performance solar energy energy products. Innovalight is venture capital backed and has received development funds from the Dept. of Energy. For more information visit www.innovalight.com